Sotomayor: Catholic? Does it matter?

May 26, 2009
by Dennis Coday

Putting together the story of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, many have struggled with her religion. Is she Catholic? She was raised Catholic, right? We know she went to Catholic schools. Is she a practicing Catholic?

Over on Beliefnet, David Gibson asks, Does it matter?

He quotes no less a Catholic judge than Antonin Scalia (as reported by First Things):

We say: Charlottesville reveals the weeping wound of racism. What do we, the American Catholic faith community, do next? Read the editorial.

"There is no such thing as a 'Catholic judge.' The bottom line is that the Catholic faith seems to me to have little effect on my work as a judge...Just as there is no 'Catholic' way to cook a hamburger, I am hard pressed to tell you of a single opinion of mine that would have come out differently if I were not Catholic."

Is that enough to put the matter to rest?

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